Why God Heals in Answer to Prayer (Part 2)
Philippians 2:25-30
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 4, 2005
*Hurricane Katrina has brought mind-boggling destruction to Louisiana and Mississippi. Yesterday FEMA reported that the area affected by Katrina covers 90,000 square miles. That is an area larger than all of Great Britain. Right now, over 100,000 people are in shelters, and there is no way to know how many people have died.
*God has surely heard echoes of David’s cry in Psalm 69, where he prayed:
1. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
2. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
*A few verses later David went on to say:
13. . . . as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
14. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16. Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
*In times like these it is good to remember the goodness and mercy of God. It is good to remember that our God is a healer. So today we will take a second look at the question: Why does God heal in answer to prayer? (Please open your Bibles to Philippians 2:25-30. There Paul said:
25. I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need;
26. since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
27. For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful.
29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem;
30. because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
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*Why does God heal in answer to prayer? Last week we started by looking at some essential truths about answered prayer for healing. Ground rules, so to speak. First, we know that God doesn’t always heal in answer to prayer. But as Christians, we know that His wisdom is infinite, and we know that this world is not our home. The 2nd ground rule was that healing is a mystery. We really don’t know why some people suffer more than others. So, we have to be very careful about trying to explain why someone is sick. -- That’s the 3rd ground rule. And the 4th rule is that we believe in doctors and medicine. As Jesus said in Matthew 9:12, “People who are sick need a physician.”
*I thank God for the shoulder surgeries I had. And I can’t tell you how thankful I am for the procedure that broke-up my kidney stone! Edwin said his kidney stone felt like a rocking chair wrapped in barbwire. I know what he means! Medical science helps people every day.
*Last week we looked at those ground rules. Then we focused on the evidence for answered prayer, and the evidence is all around us: studies, stories and Scripture.
*Janis told me a great story this week about her sister Joanna. It happened back when Joanna was a freshman in college and she was engaged to Dinky. It was only a 5-mile trip from Joanna’s to Dinky’s, and Joanna always wore her seatbelt. -- But this time the seatbelt in his truck didn’t work.
*On the way, something slid off the seat and as Dinky reached for it, he ran off the road. The tire blew and the truck rolled. Dinky was thrown out on the first flip and watched the truck roll 3 or 4 more times before Joanna was ejected. She was hit in the back of the head and her neck was broken. The x-ray showed that her top vertebra was broken, and that it had slid down toward Joanna’s spinal cord.
*She went into a coma for three days with terrible swelling in her brain, -- but the family prayed. When Joanna woke up on the third day, the swelling had gone down some, and Dr. Irby sent her down for more x-rays.
*Janis said, “He found us in the ICU waiting room and practically yelled at us to ‘GET IN HERE!’ We went in expecting the worse because he was so agitated. He slapped the old x-rays up and said, ‘Do you see these? Do you all see that broken bone?’ Of course we said yes. It was clearly visible because of the break and because it was out of place. Then he put up the new x-rays, now just four days later -- and no broken bone. Her neck was perfect for all to see. The doctor was incredulous. He kept asking US if WE saw the difference. He kept saying he couldn’t explain it and couldn’t believe it. Of course we told him that we believed it, and there was a simple explanation -- Hours and hours of prayer and a merciful, loving God! Dr. Irby said he’d never seen anything like it.”
1. The evidence is all around us, and the best evidence is here in the Word of God. -- But why does God heal in answer to prayer? One major reason is to expose Satan’s harm toward us. God wants us to see that the hurt is from Satan.
*We live in a secular society, but as Christians we understand that there is more to life than meets the eye. There is a spiritual dimension to illness. Satan has a hand in sickness. How do we know that? Remember that Epaphroditus in today’s Scripture was sick not because he was bad, but because he was good. -- Not because he was sinning, but because he was serving the Lord. Listen again to what Paul said about Epaphroditus in vs. 29-30:
29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem;
30. because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
*Satan does all he can to oppose the work of the Lord, and in this case the result was sickness. In John 10:10, Jesus said that the thief comes to steal, to kill and destroy. And that is what the devil wants to do in our lives.
*There is a spiritual dimension to sickness. Ever since sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, Satan has had some authority to make us sick. We clearly see this truth in the Old Testament story of Job, but there is another great example in Luke 13:10-17. Listen to this Scripture from the NKJV:
10. Now (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
12. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’’
13. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’’
15. The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?
16. So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound think of it for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?’’
17. And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
*Who crippled the woman with sickness? -- It was Satan. Further confirmation is seen in Acts 10:38 where Peter said that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil...”
2. Why does God heal in answer to prayer? -- To expose Satan’s harm toward us, and to express God’s heart toward us. God wants us to see the heart of our Savior.
*Look again at what Paul said in vs. 27: “For indeed (Epaphroditus) was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” Our God is merciful, kind and compassionate. And we get a glimpse of His goodness when He heals people.
-Matthew 14:14 tells us that: Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them. -- And he healed their sick.
-Matthew 20 tells us about two blind men sitting on the road to Jericho. And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.” Jesus stood still and called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said, “Lord, open our eyes!” And the Word of God says, “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. And immediately they received sight. -- And they followed him.”
*God is merciful, kind and full of compassion. We get a glimpse of that goodness when He heals people. -- But we see it best in the Cross. There is a spiritual sickness in this world infinitely worse than blindness, cancer or any other physical disease. The sickness is sin, and there was only one possible cure. Somebody had to die. Somebody had to take the sin of the whole world on their shoulders. Nobody could do that but Jesus Christ! And that’s what He did when He died on the Cross for us.
*God loves us. He is merciful, kind, full of compassion. -- And He wants us to know it.
3. Why does God heal in answer to prayer? -- To express God’s heart toward us, and to expand His help through us.
*Big things happen when we see God heal the sick. Think about the effect it has on us. First of all, it feeds our faith, and God wants to feed our faith. He wants to help us trust him. We love the story in John 11 about Lazarus being raised from the dead. Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he came hopping out of that cave, all tied up in grave clothes. Think about how that wonderful miracle strengthened the disciples’ faith, not to mention Lazarus’ faith. Lazarus died again, but he died knowing that he could trust in the Lord!
*Big things happen when we see God’s help for the sick. It feeds our faith, and it helps us to help others. In 2nd Corinthians 1, the Bible tells us that God is the God of all comfort. And He comforts us so that we can share His comfort with others. God comforts us to comfort others. God helps us so that we can help others. God heals us to help others. That’s what happened in this story of Paul and his close friend.
*Epaphroditus was already a committed servant of Jesus Christ. In vs. 25, Paul called him “my brother and companion in labor,” “my fellow-soldier” and “the one who helped me in my needs.” But now that Epaphroditus is well, there is more that he can do. In vs. 28, we see that Paul sent him to Philippi to bring help and joy to those people. God helps us so that we can help others.
*I think of Katie Finley who lived in the apartment below us when we got married. In October of that same year, I trusted in Christ as my Savior and Lord. I later learned that Mrs. Katie had prayed for us every day for six months. She prayed that God would help us find a church where we could worship Him together.
*But Mrs. Katie would not have been living below us, if the Lord hadn’t healed her. Sometime later Mrs. Katie told me about her healing miracle. She had cancer in her abdomen and told me that it was so advanced, the nurses had to be careful turning her for fear that she would just tear open. -- But then God healed Mrs. Katie. Would I have gotten saved if Mrs. Katie hadn’t been there to pray for me? I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that God did heal her, and she did pray for me and I did get saved. God helped Mrs. Katie so that she could help me, and God helps us so that we can help others.
*I went to get a haircut last Friday. For some reason, that doesn’t take nearly as long as it used to. The lady who cuts my hair just happened to be a little late, and the lady who cuts Mary’s hair just happened to be sitting at the counter. Of course, we started talking about the hurricane, and I told her that we were trying to have a meal on Monday for the Katrina evacuees at the pavilion. Without missing a beat, she said that she would make enough cakes to feed a hundred people. You see last Christmas our church helped her niece. She has an 8-year-old boy with cancer. He is doing well today, but they desperately needed the help last Christmas. This aunt is tremendously grateful for that help, and she wants to do anything she can to help other people. God helps us so that we can help other people.
*On our screen you see a picture of David and Becky Guinn. Many of you know the story of how Becky lost both of her hands and feet after complications from open heart surgery. -- But talk about overcoming, talk about help from God! Becky was even able to go back to teach art at the high school.
*David and Becky are planning to be here in two weeks for our “Heart of a Champion Weekend.” That Sunday morning David will preach, and Lord willing, Becky will give her testimony in the evening service. They will bring a message of hope, encouragement and overcoming in the worst of circumstances. This is a message the people of Louisiana need now more than any other time in my life. We didn’t know that when we asked David and Becky to come. -- But God did. God helped David and Becky so that they can help others. And God has blessed you so that you can bless others. There will be many opportunities for you to help in coming months, but nothing will be more important that getting people to hear how we can have the heart of a Champion. We have invitations for you to use for Sunday, Sept. 18th. Get some and give them to everyone you can, because our God is the greatest Healer of all.
